Belmopan vendors barred from parked buses

Since the implementation of the new bus system in October, the Ministry of Transport has had no end of problems and complaints… and tonight there is another gripe coming out of the capital. For two years Radiance Thompson has been selling her burgers and pastries at the bus terminal in Belmopan, but with the new routes came new rules and Thompson says that she and other vendors have been barred from going onto the parked buses to sell their products and are now confined to the terminal. Thompson says that move by Minister of Transport Melvin Hulse and Chief Transport Officer Candelaria Zaldivar is affecting her sales and is taking food out of her mouth.

Radiance Thompson, Vendor
“Some people cannot come off the bus. They have children, they are afraid their seats will be lost; they don’t want to come off the bus. When we get on the bus, that’s ninety percent of our salary right there and you know what… let us be able to go around the bus at least and go home. I have been to Orange Walk, I have been to Corozal, Belize; these three districts I know they can sell on the buses. How come all of a sudden we can’t sell and Mr. Hulse says it’s dangerous. Dangerous how? Have you heard of an accident happening out there since the bus has been… you know what I am saying? If the taxi man can go out there and solicit, why can’t we solicit our burgers, our chips, our drinks? What’s the matter? That’s the way I make a living. I am too old to work for someone now, so I decided that I will work for myself. So I believe that it’s my right to make a living.”

The change in policy has apparently also been instituted in Belize City and Dangriga. When News Five contacted C.E.O. in the Ministry of Transport Colonel George Lovell, he told us in essence that a lot of people are bothered by solicitations and the move was an effort to provide safe and comfortable conditions of travelers.